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How to Design the Perfect Logo

February 22, 2018

If you’re reading this it’s because you already know how important having a logo is. Now it’s time to design the perfect logo for your brand! Read on to find out what aspects should be taken into consideration when creating your logo.

CONSIDER YOUR AUDIENCE

Who is your audience: age, gender, location, income level, occupation and culture? Write down your audience or ideal target market persona. Now, what do you think they would like to see from you? You want to cater yourself to your clientele.

UNDERSTAND YOUR COMPETITION

Doing research on your competitors is important for two reasons: to see what your competitors are doing right and see what your competitors are doing wrong. Do your competitors have a great logo? Does it represent their brand? Take notes on what you see. This probably goes without saying, but do not make your logo similar to your competitors.

COLOR PSYCHOLOGY

Logo color is something that many people overlook when creating their brand. Do you know that colors cause emotional triggers? Large, successful brands know the importance of color. Many health-conscious companies use the color green for their logo because green can symbolize health, nature and balance. Another favorite color among brands is blue because it symbolizes trust, security, and loyalty. With that being said, choosing a color that will trigger the right emotions in your target audience is critical.

SIMPLE

Keep it simple. This is something that smaller brands sometimes struggle with when creating a new logo. You’ve seen logos that have way too much going on: they’re busy, crowded and you don’t know what you should be focusing on. A good logo will be able to be edited and used in a variety of mediums and in a variety of sizes without having the quality change.

WORDMARKS, LETTERMARKS, SYMBOLS…WHAT DO THEY ALL MEAN?

There are a few different types of logos: some contain text, some contain graphics, and some contain both!

Let’s break it down:

Lettermarks only contains letters, which are usually the company’s initials.

Wordmarks contain only the company’s name alone.

Symbols are icons or graphic designs.

If you want to find out which logo is right for your company, check out this article for an in-depth look at what type of logo might be right for your brand.

SKETCH OUT YOUR IDEAS

Keep a notebook and a pencil on you at all times so you can sketch your ideas as they come to you. Don’t give yourself time to forget your brilliant ideas!

CREATE AN INSPIRATION BOARD

This might seem silly, but creating an inspiration board can be helpful when you’re trying to figure out what you want your brand to look like. Choose colors, quotes, lifestyles, locations, products that speak to you. Pinterest is a good source to utilize when you want to create an online inspiration board. Creating this board might give you some insight about yourself and what speaks to you – and in turn, what you want your brand to look like and represent.

REPRESENTS WHAT YOUR COMPANY IS ABOUT

Your logo is a direct representation of your brand. People will make assumptions about your brand just by looking at your logo. The better the logo, the better the impression you’ll make to potential customers. Take your brand’s values and personality into consideration when creating your design to make sure you’re accurately representing your brand.

TRY TO MAKE YOUR DESIGN “TIMELESS”

This tip is crucial. Having to re-design your logo is almost always a death sentence. All of the time you spent designing your logo, putting it on your marketing materials, and trying to make your brand memorable…is gone. Do a great job designing your logo the first time around and you won’t have to go through this process later on.

VERSATILE

Your logo will go on everything: business cards, newsletters, t-shirts, your website, etc. Because of this, you need a logo that can fit anywhere. Stay away from awkward shapes that could make it difficult to find a good place to put your logo. You can always make a few different variations of your logo as well – such as different colors or background colors.

MEMORABLE AND UNIQUE

You don’t want your logo to look like anyone else’s – not just for legal reasons, but because having a logo that stands out will help potential customers remember your brand longer. One sure-fire way to create a unique logo is to use a custom font. Quite a few big brands use custom font for their logos.

VECTOR ARTWORK

Your logo should be in vector format. Vector artwork is graphic art that’s usually made with Illustrator or Corel Draw and is able to be resized an infinite number of times without becoming distorted. Your logo designer or screen printer will be able to convert your artwork into vector format if you’re not able to.

HIRE A PRO

Last but certainly not least, if you aren’t able to create a beautiful logo…suck it up and hire a pro. And I don’t mean use a $5 service. Shelling out a few hundred dollars to get your logo professionally created is a bit daunting, but it’s worth it when your logo holds up throughout the years. This goes back to making your logo “timeless.” Spending money now will save you money later when you inevitably have to re-do your logo (and possibly sacrifice your business in the process) because you decided to go with a cheap service.